SPECIAL REPORT: SUSTAINABILITY
The wow factor W
ith today’s passengers having more choice than ever before in terms of where to fly from, the provision of good customer service levels has arguably never been more important for airports.
It is also safe to say that assuring a high rating on all drivers of
customer satisfaction is very challenging for airport operators given the many service providers responsible for the air travel service delivery chain. However, as many surveys reveal each year and ACI knows only too
well from its own customer satisfaction analysis, there are many airports out there that have made raising customer satisfaction levels a priority. And some have even made it a prime objective to tackle the challenges
confronting the consistency of service excellence at their airports. Indeed, there are many customer service champions implementing
service innovations, amenities, and programmes to address customer priorities and ‘wow’ visitors. Let me highlight the innovative work of just four of these progressive customer centric airport operators.
Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport (MSP) The Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) has been in the forefront championing quality services for travellers at Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport for over a decade. In fact, since 1998 the MAC has involved airlines, screeners,
personal service providers and airport food and retail concessionaires in the Customer Service Action Council (CSAC), which measures customer feedback, identifies areas in need of improvement, and seeks cross-organisational improvement approaches. “When there is a customer service issue, it’s everybody’s issue. The
challenge is to work together as an airport community to address the issue and ensure customers have a great experience every time they fly from our airport,” says Tim Anderson, the gateway’s deputy executive director for operations.
Joanne Paternoster takes a closer look at the sustainability enhancing customer service efforts of a handful of gateways.
Its latest innovation is the launch of a digital concierge programme,
which is set to be introduced this autumn. New, interactive, touch screen terminal directories will help passengers
identify flight status, gate information, restaurants and shopping opportunities, locations of airport amenities and how many minutes it will takes to get from the directory to travellers’ selected points of interest. A ‘Map It’ feature will show users graphically how to get from
point-to-point. Travellers can also use the kiosks to provide direct feedback regarding their airport experience. In 2011, MAC plans to add features that enable passengers to enter
their interests into the digital concierge in order to receive a personalised menu of shops, services and restaurants likely to appeal to them, along with any associated sales or specials they will find there. In addition, MAC is currently in the process of developing
MyMSPconnect, a web portal designed to enhance the sense of community and commitment to service among airport businesses. Scheduled to launch by year’s end, the new website will encourage information sharing among businesses operating at MSP. With some 20,000 airport workers spread among dozens of
companies, getting information to workers at all levels is challenging. Most employees have some web access, so the new portal is an opportunity to engage frontline workers as well as managers in building a customer-focused airport community. MAC also is developing a customer service video that airport
businesses can use in their employee orientation processes. The video highlights the airport community’s employee brand promise to be “MSP Nice: one experience at a time”. Along with MyMSPconnect, an airport wide electronic newsletter, an
airport-wide Employee of the Year programme, and regular CSAC meetings, the video furthers the sense that while airport employees may work for different employers, they all have a shared purpose: to do what they can to ensure every customer has a good experience every time they fly from MSP.
AIRPORT WORLD/AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2010 53
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88